Coordinating Distributed Objects: An Actor-Based Approach to Synchronization

Coordinating Distributed Objects
	Contents
	List of Figures
	List of Tables
	List of Examples
	Foreword
	Acknowledgments
	1  Introduction
		1.1 Object-Oriented Programming
		1.2 Actors
		1.3 Coordination
		1.4 Overview
	2  Synchronization Constraints
		2.1 Design Considerations
		2.2 Specification of Synchronization Constraints
		2.3 Inheritance of Synchronization Constraints
		2.4 Refinement of Synchronization Constraints
		2.5 Possible Extensions
			2.5.1 Set-Based Patterns
			2.5.2 Message Priority
			2.5.3 Garbage Collection of Obsolete Messages
		2.6 Related Work
			2.6.1 Semaphores and Monitors
			2.6.2 Path Expressions
			2.6.3 Receive Actions
			2.6.4 Activation Conditions
			2.6.5 Explicit Method Enabling
			2.6.6 Hybrid Approaches
		2.7 Conclusion
	3  Synchronizers
		3.1 Design Considerations
		3.2 Synchronizers and Synchronization Constraints
		3.3 Functionality of Synchronizers
		3.4 Language Support for Synchronizers
			3.4.1 Message Patterns
			3.4.2 Triggers
			3.4.3 Disabling Constraints
			3.4.4 Atomicity Constraints
			3.4.5 Composing Disabling and Atomicity Constraints
		3.5 Combined Evaluation
		3.6 Application of Synchronizers
		3.7 Possible Extensions
			3.7.1 Constraining Specific Messages
			3.7.2 Conditions for Synchronizer Enforcement
			3.7.3 Multimessage Patterns
			3.7.4 Incremental Strengthening of Atomic Constraints
		3.8 Related Work
			3.8.1 Explicit Coordinators
			3.8.2 Transactions
			3.8.3 Atomic Broadcast
			3.8.4 Multiparty Interactions
			3.8.5 Triggers
			3.8.6 Multimedia Synchronization
			3.8.7 Constraint-Based Languages
			3.8.8 Global Assertions
			3.8.9 Graph Rewriting
			3.8.10 Documentation of Coordination
		3.9 Conclusion
	4  Semantics
		4.1 Language Overview
		4.2 Language Syntax
			4.2.1 Primitive Operations
			4.2.2 Actors
			4.2.3 Synchronizers
			4.2.4 Examples
		4.3 Representation of Actor Systems
			4.3.1 Representation of Actors
			4.3.2 Representation of Messages
			4.3.3 Configurations
		4.4 Expression Evaluation
		4.5 Constraint Evaluation
			4.5.1 Semantics of Disabling Constraints
			4.5.2 Semantics of Atomicity Constraints
		4.6 Trigger Evaluation
		4.7 Transitions Between Configurations
		4.8 Discussion
		4.9 Conclusion
	5  Implementation
		5.1 High-Level Design Decisions
			5.1.1 Communication Topology
			5.1.2 Constraint Evaluation
		5.2 Synchronization Constraints
		5.3 Synchronizer Instantiation and Representation
		5.4 Constraint and Trigger Evaluation
			5.4.1 Information Flow
			5.4.2 Communication Protocols
			5.4.3 Deadlocks
		5.5 Pseudocode
			5.5.1 Evaluating Disabling Constraints
			5.5.2 Constraint Servers
			5.5.3 Evaluating Atomicity Constraints
			5.5.4 Evaluating Disabling and Atomicity Constraints
			5.5.5 Discussion
		5.6 Serializability
		5.7 Fairness
			5.7.1 Weak Fairness
			5.7.2 Strong Fairness
			5.7.3 Our Notion of Fairness
		5.8 Message Complexity
		5.9 Performance
		5.10 Possible Extensions
			5.10.1 Migration
			5.10.2 Fault Tolerance
			5.10.3 Garbage Collection
		5.11 Alternatives
			5.11.1 Communication with Constraint Servers
			5.11.2 Deadlocks
			5.11.3 Concurrent Check Actions
			5.11.4 Optimistic Concurrency Control
			5.11.5 Distributed Mutual Exclusion
		5.12 Conclusion
	6  Conclusion
	Glossary
	References
	Name Index
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	Subject Index
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